This pasta recipe from the Italian area of Naples is very straightforward and uncomplicated.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 35 mins |
| Servings: | 2 |
| Yield: | 2 servings |
Ingredients
- ½ pound fresh spinach — cleaned, stemmed, and dried
- 2 large stalks of rhubarb, cut diagonally into thin slices
- water to cover
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons sweet red wine vinegar
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Arrange the spinach leaves on a platter.
- Place the rhubarb in a skillet with enough water to cover by 1 inch; add the sugar. Bring the rhubarb to a gentle boil over medium-low heat and simmer until the sugar has dissolved and the rhubarb is lightly cooked, about 2 minutes. Remove the rhubarb with a slotted spoon and distribute over the spinach.
- Stir the vinegar into the liquid left in the skillet, raise heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Return heat to medium-low and cook until the liquid has reduced to about 3/4 cup, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, whisk in the olive oil, and pour the hot dressing over the spinach and rhubarb to wilt the lettuce. Divide salad between 2 plates; serve warm.
Reviews
my family loves it just as it is
What a tasty salad! I followed the advice of another reviewer and cooked 3/4 c rhubarb in 3/4 c water with 1/4 c sugar. After spooning the rhubarb chunks onto the spinach I cooked down the remaining water until it was about 1/4 c, then added 3 T olive oil and 1 T red wine vinegar. I poured all of it over the salad and mixed it up. My kids said it tasted like cotton candy! What a great salad. I can see using this as a base and adding in a variety of other toppings like boiled egg chunks, bacon bits, nuts, etc. So glad I found this recipe.
I love this recipe, but 6 tablespoons of olive oil must be a misprint. I lightly drizzled oil over the spinach. I have made it with spinach and Swiss chard, both were delicious. Give it a try but go east on the olive oil. A spinach salad should not have nearly 500 calories.
This salad sounded a bit bizzaar, but since I had an abundance of spinach and rhubard, I tried it. Wow, it was great-even the hubby said I could make this one again!!!
Well, the first time I made this recipe it didn’t turn out that well. I liked the idea of it so much though, that I decided to try again, with some tweaks. The first time I used ¾ cup rhubarb and 1 ½ cups water and reduced the water/sugar down to ¾ cup, like the recipe states. This ended up with way too much watered-down dressing! So the second time, I used ¾ cup rhubarb and ¾ cup water. I still cooked the rhubarb for 2 minutes and then removed and put it on the spinach, like the recipe states. It also doesn’t hurt to leave a few pieces of the rhubarb in the water. I simmered the water down to ¼ cup (about 10 minutes) – this made it more of a syrup with a more concentrated rhubarb flavor. I also reduced the vinegar and olive oil to better proportions. While the water/sugar simmered (without the vinegar), I combined 3 Tbsp. olive oil and 1 Tbsp. vinegar in a container with a lid. I then took the reduced rhubarb water and poured it in the container and shook vigorously, then poured it over the salad. Much better! As written, this is a 3-star recipe. With my changes, definitely 5-star! I will make this again! I’ve written up a custom version of this recipe so you can see my changes. **UPDATE: I made this again tonight and decided to serve it cold. I chilled the cooked rhubarb and dressing, then tossed it with the spinach and some blue cheese, bacon bits and walnuts. Yum!